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READ — REFLliCT — CIRCULATE. 



^T^ APFE^L 




It is the duty of every man having a right to vote to inform 
himself on all subjects affecting the welfare of his country. It is 
no less his duty to vote in accordance with his convictions as to 
what is be.st, uninfluenced by party names, or by those assuming to 
be party leaders. In a Republic, every man should do his own 
thinking and voting as becomes a freeman. 

Vital principles of government and measures of public policy 
are involved in the result of the approaching PrestdeJitial elec- 
tion. It should be the wish of every one to airive at a just con- 
clusion on these subjects. This cannot be done without a knowl- 
edge of those principles and measures, and the reasons for and 
against them. The candid and thoughtful attention of the reader 
is respectfully asked to their consideration. 

The Republicans maintain, as a principle essential to the exist- 
ence of the government, the supremacy of the United States 
touching all things granted to them by the people under the Con- 
stitution, thus constituting them a sovereign Nation, while rec- 
ognizing all the rights reserved to the States when the Constitu- 
tion was framed. 

The Democratic party is now, as heretofore, controlled by its 
Southern leaders, who deny and denounce this principle of govern- 



3 

AN APPEAL TO THE 



■3 



ment, calling it, in their Cincinnati platform, " Centraliaation," 
which tliey threaten to disregard. 

Tn 1861, bocause Mr. Lincoln had been elected President, they 
rebelled against this principle of government, claiming that each 
State is sovereign and has a right to secede whenever it desires to 
do so. They attempted to maintain this doctilne by making war 
upon the general government. Failing to overthrow it, now, by 
the consolidation of the " solid South," (of which they boasted 
at the Cincinnati Convention.) they are attempting to seize upon 
its control. Are the plain honest people willing that they shall 
do it ? That is to be determined by the election in November 
next. 

The Republicans maintain that there should be, for the transac- 
tion of business, a national circulating medium of gold and silver, 
or of bank notes for which gold or silver may be had at the will 
of the holder. The experience of the most enlightened and civ- 
ilized nations has demonstrated the utter fallacy of all attempts to 
substitute anything else for them. The leaders of the Democratic 
party are opposed to this, as shown by the fact that every Demo- 
cratic Senator and Representative in Congi-ess voted against the 
resumption act at the time of its passage. The evidence of this 
is to be found in the third volume of the Congressional Record, 
part 1, of the 43d Congress, 2d session, pages 208 and 319, shoukl 
it be denied. This is not all. After its passage, their National 
Convention in 1876 demanded its repeal, and Democratic members 
of Congress made many effoits to procure its repeal. 

Now that this Republican measure has, despite Democratic oppo- 
sition, given the country the best and safest money it has ever 
had, bringing about a revival of business, the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion professed to be in its favor in the hope of deceiving the peo- 
ple ! Men are better known by their acts than by their profes- 
sions. The people are not the fools these men seem to think 
them to be. If they were honest and sincere in their professions, 
why Is it that they are now .supporting a candidate for Governor 



COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE. 3 

of Indiana who is an avowed inflationist and an advocate of irre- 
deemable paper money ? Why is it that they have formed a coali- 
tion with the Greenback irredeemable paper-money men of Maine? 
They are lionest hard-money men with a vengeance ! Are such 
men worthy the confidence of the people ? 

As the circulation of gold and silver alone would be cumbersome 
and inconvenient, the Republicans established the national bank- 
ing system, which gives the people a currency for which they can 
obtain gold or silver on demand. As every dollar issued by these 
banks is secured by a pledge of United States bonds deposited in 
the United States Treasury, no bill-holder has ever lost a cent by 
them, nor is it possible for him to do so, unless the government, 
itself becomes insolvent. 

Notwithstanding these facts, the leaders of the Democratic party 
are determined to destroy this system of banking, and they will 
do it should they obtain power. They attempt to arouse the prej- 
udices of the people against it by the senseless cry of "monopoly."" 
Let us see how much ground there is for this cry. Any number 
of persons not less than five may establish a bank by purchasing 
United States bonds and filing them with the Treasurer of the- 
United States to secure the payment of the notes they may issue- 
for circulation. Certainly there can be no monopoly in a busi- 
ness in which any man may engage should he desire to do so. 
Can there be anything more ridiculous than this cry of " monop- 
oly"' ? It scarcely reaches the dignity of third-rate demagogery !' 

The interest on the bonds which secure their circulation must be- 
paid, whether owned by the banks or by individuals, so there car^ 
be no objection to their use for banking purposes. Since the 
establishment of this system, these banks have paid $92,754,791 
into the United States Treasury as a tax on their circulation and 
deposits, besides an equal amount in taxation to the States where 
located. In addition to this advantage to the national government 
and to the States, they are of still greater advantage to the busi- 
ness interests of the people. Located in all the towns where there 



4 AN APPEAL TO THE 

is enough business to justify it, they afford great money facilities 
to the farmer, mechanic, and manufacturer. 

Notwithstanding the great benefits thus conferred by the national 
banks, the leaders of the Democracy say that they must be de- 
stroyed ; that Congress had no constitutional right to establish 
them ; that this right belongs only to the States, and that banks 
under the laws of the State only should be established. Hundreds 
of our people have a vivid recollection of the old State-rights 
banks brought into existence after the destruction of the United 
vStates Bank, during the administration of General Jackson. Their 
notes had only a local circulation, and men going from one State 
to another, and often from one county to another, could not pass 
them except at a discount ! And when these State-rights banks 
broke, as they often did, it was at the loss of the unfortunate bill- 
holder. How different from the national-bank notes, which now 
(thanks to Republican legislation) are at par in all the great com- 
mercial marts of the world ! Do the people wish to go back to 
the old State-rights banks ? If so, let them place the " solid 
South'' again in power. 

The Republicans say that the honor of the Nation must be 
maintained by the payment of our national debt. A recent report 
from the Treasury Department shows that the expenditure growing 
out of the Democratic rebellion amounted to $6,189,929,808.88. 
This, however, is but dross when contrasted with the loss of hun- 
dreds of thousands of lives and the suffering and anguish of the 
hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans caused by the 
rebellion. 

The very men who brought all this woe and suffering upon the 
country have again banded together in a ' solid South '* to again 
rule or ruin the country. Will the people of the North and great 
West permit it to be done ? That question must be answered at 
the polls in November. 

A national debt of $1,797,043,000.00, for which bonds have been 
issued, is yet unpaid. Let the rebels of the -^ solid South" have 



COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE. 5 

control of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the 
government, and these bonds will be repudiated, as they have 
already repudiated the bonds of several of their States. They are 
already paving the way for it by denouncing those who own the 
bonds as heartless Shylocks who have no claim on them for sym- 
pathy or payment. 

Who are these bond-holders ? There is a schedule of the owners 
of the four-pcr-cent. registered bonds printed at the Government 
Printing-Office every three months, by which the interest is paid. 
It contains the names of 20,141 persons, 7,083 of whom hold 
bonds for §500 and less in amount. Among this number are the 
names of 3,687 women, many of them, no doubt, the widows of 
husbands killed by these men. These are the Shylocks who have 
no claim upon rebel sympathy, and whose bonds are to be repu- 
diated should the "solid South" control the government. They 
will justify this by saying to themselves, " This money was bon-owed 
to prevent us from establishing our confederacy, and why should we 
aid in paying it ? " That is their regard for the plighted faith of the 
Nation ! They will not stop at that. They will, also, either repu- 
diate the payment of pensions to Union soldiers, or add the rebel 
soldiers to the list. Should it be said that this is prevented by 
the amendments to the Constitution, the reply is at hand, as illus- 
trated by a recent act of a Democratic court. They will so re- 
organize the Supreme Court as to obtain a majority of the judges, 
to do which a bill was introduced at the last session of Congi-ess 
by Mr. Manning, of Mississippi. This accomplished, the court 
will then decide that these amend mente were not constitutionally 
adopted, as the Democratic Supreme Court of Indiana has done in 
relation to the recent amendments to the Constitution of that 
State. They will then have full sway. Bills are now pending in 
Congress to pay over three hundred millions of dollars to rebels 
now barred by these amendments. Take them out of the way, 
who doubts the payment of these claims ? This is no idle surmise 
to alarm the people. Let sober-minded men reflect, and they will 



6 AN APPEAL TO THE 

be convinced that this will be accomplished in the event of the 
Gontrol of the government going into the hands of the "solid 
South." Ai^e the people of the North and West prepared for this ? 
Then let them vote for it in November. 

The maintenance of such duties on foreign manufactured good.s 
coming into our ports as shall enable our laborers, mechanics, 
and manufacturers to enter into fair competition with the jioorly- 
paid labor of Europe, for our own markets, is another Republican 
measure whose existence depends upon the result of the pending 
elections. 

The leaders of the Democracy of the "solid South" now, as 
always heretofore, dictate the measures of that party. Educated 
in the Calhoun school of politics, they are in favor of what they 
call "frse trade." ApiDrehending that the time has not yet come 
for an open avowal of this doctrine, they so far concealed their 
ultimate and real object as to declare at Cincinnati for a "tariff 
for revenue only," as they did four years ago at St. Louis. The 
meaning of this is, that there shall be no tariff on articles coming 
in competition with articles manufactured by our own people, be- 
cause that would be protection, to which they are opposed. This 
they call in their platform a "tariff for revenue only." Such a 
tariff would enable foreign manufacturers to undersell and break 
down our mechanics and manufacturers, because of the starvation 
prices paid by the former for labor, which enters so largely into 
the cost of the manufacture of every article coming into market. 

The people of this country have but an imperfect idea of the 
real condition of and the wages paid those who labor in the mines, 
workshops, and manufacturing establishments of Europe. A few 
years ago a commission was instituted by Parliament, in England, 
to inquire into that condition and as to the wages paid. The facts 
communicated, after a thorough examination of witnesses, were 
of the most horrible character. They found that in many of the 
coal-mines men, women, boys, and girls were working together in an 
almost naked condition. They say : "In the Lancashire coal-fields 
lying to the north and west of IManchester, females are regularly 
employed in underground labor, and the brutal conduct of the 
men and the abasement of the women are well described by some 
of the witnesses examined by them." A witness, Peter Garkel, col- 
lier, said that he " prefers women to boys as drawers ; they are 
better to manage, and keep time better ; they will fight and shriek, 



COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE. 7 

and do every thin^ but let anybody pass them." Betty Harris, 
(one of numeroits persons examined.) aged thirty-seven, drawer in 
a coal-pit, said: " I have k belt aroutbd my loaist and a chain be- 
tween my legs to the truck, and I go on my hands aii4- feet ; the 
road is very steep, and we have to hold by a rope, and when there is 
no rope, by anything we can catch hold of. There are six women 
and about six boys or girls in the pit I work in ; it is very wet. 
and the water comes over ourclog-tops always, and I have seen 
it up to my thighs ; my clothes are always wet." Patience Ker- 
shaw, aged seventeen, another person examined, said : "I work in 
the clothes I now have on [trousers and ragged jacket] ; the bald 
place upon my head is made by thrusting the cones ; the getters 
T work for are naked, except their caps : they pull off their clothes ; 
all tlie men are naked." Margaret Hibbs, aged eighteen, said : 
" My employment after reaching the wall-face is to fill my bagie 
or stype with two and a half or three hundred weight of coal : I 
then hook it on to my chain and drag it through the seam, which 
is from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches high, till I get to the main 
road, a good distance, probably two hundred to four hundred yards ; 
the pavement I drag over is wet, and I am obliged at all times to 
crawl on my hands and feet with my bagie hung to the chain and 
ropes. It is sad, sweating, sore, and fatiguing work, and fre- 
quently maims the women." Robert Bald, the government coal- 
viewer, states, that " In surveying the workings of an extensive 
colliery under ground, a married woman came forward groaning 
under an excessive \veight of coals, trembling in every nerve, and 
almost unable to keep her knees from sinking under her. On 
coming up, she said, in a plaintive and melancholy voice, ' Oh, 
sir, this is sore, sore, sore work." A sub-commissioner said : " It is 
almost incredible that human beings can submit to such employ- 
ment — crawling on hands and knees, harnessed like horses, over 
soft, slushy floors, more difficult than dragging the same weight 
through our lowest sewers." Hundreds of pages are filled with 
testimony of the same revolting character. 

The wood-cut illustration of these facts is reproduced from 
Cobden's book, entitled "The White Slaves of England," to which 
the reader is referred for an extended account of the condition of 
those who labor in England. These miserable human beings are 
paid less than twenty cents per day ! 

The evidence shows almost as terrible a condition of the em- 



AN APPEAL TO THK 




OH, SIR, THIS IS SORE. SORE, SORE WORK." 



COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE. U 

ployees of the workshops and large manufacturing establishments. 
We have no room for the shocking details. 

The leaders of the "solid South" resolved at Cincinnati that 
our workmen, mechanics, and manufacturers shall not be pro- 
tected against the influx into this country of the productions of 
laborers whose condition compels them to work 5or starvation 
wages ! They are opposed to protection, and go for a " revenue 
tariff only." 

W those who work in our coal-mines, workshops, and manufac- 
turing establishments desire to be put on the same footing with 
those employed at like work in foreign countries, let them vote 
with the "solid South" in November. 

A book has recently been written in England and sent here for 
circulation among our farmers, in which they are told that they pay 
many millions a year more for American goods than they would 
for British goods were our tariff laws repealed. A more gi'oss 
insult to the common sense and intelligence of our farmers could 
not be given. Every one of them knows that were our mines, 
workshops, and manufacturing establishments closed, as they 
would be under a revenue tariff, our markets would be at the 
incrcy of foreign manufacturers and their importers. They would 
compel the farmers to pay their own prices for every article, or to 
do without. Instead of attempting to interfere with our affairs, it 
would be quite a:; well for the author of this book to attend to his 
own. We can take care of ours. Greneral Garfield, in his letter 
of acceptance, well says : " We imust legislate for our oavn 

COUNTRY, AND NOT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD." Each country 

must take care of itself. Our farmers know what is best for 
them, and will pay but little heed to the interested advice of this 
author. 

If, in the course of the present canvass, some little bandy-legged 
demagogue, who wants to wriggle himself into Congress, (as is 
most apt to be the case.) shall attempt to prejudice you against the 
protection of your own labor, by telling you that you pay the 
amount of the duty imposed on every article more than you would 
do were it not imposed, ask him to name the article manufactured 
in this country the price of which has been increased by protec- 
tion. He may make the assertion, but don't take his word, — de- 
mand the proof. He cannot give it, because the evidence is to the 
contrary. The effect of protection, as established by experience, 



10 AN APPEAL TO THE 

has been to reduce the price we paid foreign manufacturers when 
they had control of our markets under a mere revenue tariff". No 
well-informed honest man Avill dare dispute this historical fact. 
Cmnpetition among our manufacturers, governed by the law of 
supply and demand, has reduced and will continue to keep down 
prices to the lowest possible point of profit to the manufacturers 
after paying reasonable wages to those in their employment. 

This little bandy-legged demagogue will be m®st likely to select 
salt, as its use w so essential to the people. With hypocritical tears 
streaming down his cheek, he will deplore the hardship of the 
poor man because of the duty on this article. Send him to Con- 
gress and he will relieve the poor people from this terrible oppres- 
sion ! Admit, for a moment, that Vlie duty has increased the price 
to the extent of the duty, and see how ridiculous the little fellow 
becomes I The duty is from eight to twelve cents per hundred 
pounds, according to the gi'ade. It is estimated, by taking the 
quantity of salt consumed per arxuum and the number of adult 
persons in the United States, that the duty amounts to the enor- 
mous sum of about six cents per annum for each individual ! Are 
not the suff'erings of the poor on this account intolerable ? Tell 
the little demagogue to hasten to find the smallest possible gimlet- 
hole in which to hide ! 

It is not true, however, that the duty has increased the price. 
The very contrary is the fact, as the following will show : 

From 1856 to 1860 the duty on salt was one and one-half cents 
per hundred pounds, and Syracuse packing salt sold at Chicago 
for $1.75 per barrel. In 1871, with the highest protective duty it 
has ever had, it sold at an average of only $1.40 per barrel. Let 
any one compare the price paid ici 1860 with what is now paid, and 
he will sec that it has been reduced by the protection given our 
manufacturers. The present dut^.', however, does not prevent for- 
eign importation, as the books at the Treasury Department show 
that J.6, 000, 000 pounds were imported during the last fiscal year. 
The duty now imposed simply encourages our own people in States 
where salt springs exist to manufacture it, giving employment to 
thousands of laborers at fair wages, and protecting the people 
against the high prices paid to foreigners when they controlled 
our markets. 1'hcse facts apply to and illu-strate every article 
manufactured in this country, the labor to produce which is pro- 
tected bv the existing tariff. 



COMMON SENSK OF TKE PEOPLE. H 

Experience is often a hard school, but the lessons taught in it 
are far more valuable than mere theories, however plausible the lat- 
ter may be. In 1846 the " solid South," under the lead of Calhoun, 
the archfiend of nullification, repealed the protective tariff of 
1842 and passed what they called ■" a tariff for revenue only." In 
a very few years it resulted in breaking up our workshops, found- 
ries, and manufacturing establishments. Hundreds of thousands 
thus thrown out of employment became tillers of the soil. Soon 
produce, from excessive production and want of a home market, 
rotted in the barns of our farmers. '^Like causes produce like 
results." Let the "solid South" again have control, and, in ac- 
cordance with their pledge given at Cincinnati, another "revenue 
tariff" will be enacted with the same inevitable result. Those 
who want to build up and support workshops and manufacturiag 
establishments in Europe in preference to our own country, should 
vote for a revenue tariff and against protection. 

Having set forth the principles and measures of public policy 
to be determined at the election, it is well to take a look at the 
candidates for the Presidency. 

The leaders of the "solid South" have presented General Han- 
cock as their candidate, not that they care anything more for him 
now than when they attempted to kill him at Gettysburg, when he 
was one of "Lincoln's hirelings," as they then called him, but be- 
cause they know that his election will restore them to the control 
of the government. They dare not nominate any one of their prom- 
inent public men, because they had all either been rebels or rebel 
sympathizers. They thought to deceive the Union people by the 
nomination of a man who had fought for the Union. Or, in plain 
English, they baited a rebel hook with a Union general, in the hope 
that it would be swallowed by a sufficient number of Union soldiers 
to give them the election ! They have already found out that, hke 
all other devices to deceive an intelligent people, it has ignomin- 
iously failed. There are no Union soldiers so blind as not to see 
the deception, nor so dumb as not to denounce it. 

General Hancock was educated at West Point, at the expense 
of the people, the only institution in this country of exclusive and 
aristocratic tendencies. The cadets there are taught to believe 
that they are made of better material than common folks, and 
hence it was that West Point officers lorded it over those who 



12 AN APPEAL TO THE 

volunteered from the ranks of the people during the Democratic 
rebellion. It is not in the nature of things that a man educated 
exclusively for military life, without any other kind of experience, 
can be fit for civil employment. He has never mixed with the 
people, and can know nothing of the ordinary affairs of life so 
essential to a man at the head of the government. 

Altogether different is the man nominated by the Republicans. 
A more completely self-made man than Greneral Garfield was never 
in public life in any counti'y. Born of poor parents and losing 
his father when a mere child, he was left to his own efforts to make 
his way through the world. Commencing life as a poor, ragged, 
barefooted boy, earning a scanty living by driving mules on the 
tow-path of a canal, he made himself master of ancient and modern 
languages, learned in the exact sciences, and accomplished in all 
the knowledge to be derived from reading and experience to ren- 
der him a statesman in the fullest meaning of the word. Let any 
man ask himself, in the honesty of his heart, uninfluenced by 
partisan feeling, which of these two men is the better fitted for the 
Presidency ? There can be no doubt as to his answer. He will 
say that the man who has worked his way up from the people — 
who has mixed with and suffered with them in their struggles with 
poverty — who knows their wants and the wants of the country, is 
far better fitted than the man educated as a mere soldier, having 
no other experience. 

As the result of Republican policy, we have for the transac- 
tion of business a circulating medium which commands the confi- 
dence of the civilized world ; we have a home and foreign market 
for the produce of our soil at fairly remunerative prices ; we have 
employment for those who work in the mines, workshops, and 
manufacturing establishments at wages almost three times greater 
than is received by persons thus employed in any other portion of 
the globe ; while all the means of living are not only more abun- 
dant with us. but are obtainable at much cheaper rates. Our peo- 
ple are more prosperous and happy than any other people on 
earth. Why should not the party which has wrought all this be 
continued in power ? Why destroy it. and go back to a policy 
which conmion sense and experience declare must result in ruin ? 

Four years ago the people placed the grand old Ship of State 
in charge of one who had distinguished himself as a volunteer- 
soldier statesman, in full confidence that she would be in safe 



COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE, 



13 




14 AN APPEAL TO THE COMMON SENSE OF THE PEOPLE. 

hands. That confidence was well placed. TTnder his wise guid- 
ance she has weathered all the storms that beset her, and now 
pjdes majestically in the haven of success and prosperity. 

"Sail on. O Ship of State 1 
Sail on, O Union, strong,ajid great 1 

Humanity, with all its fears. 

With all the hope of future years. 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate." 

And as sure as there is a Divine Providence that controls the 
destinies of nations, this goodly ship will never be delivered into 
the hands of the traitorous mutineers who attempted her destruc- 
tion, but, on the fourtli of next March, will be handed over to 
another volunteer-soldier statesman, James A. Garfield, whose 
whole course in life has established his eminent fitness to stand at 
the helm. 

JOHN D. DEFREES. 

Berkeley Springs, W. V. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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